Unusual repowers

Hi, just to keep the forum ticking over quietly, have always bee interested in some of the more unusual "repowers" that crop up every now and then. We have had Whites with R/R engines, Commers with DS8 Scanias, NR Macks with 6/71's, Fodens with Allis Chalmers (or BUDA's), the smaller Perkins and little Crummins have found homes in just about anything with wheels. How about a MAN with a 903? Some of the more exotic, not to mention unusual ones certainly appeared after WW2 was done and dusted, lots of not only surplus trucks but allied equipment became available. Post a few of yours up, any photos would be great as well, more unusual the cooler! One of my favs was a cab over Scania with a 6 cylinder R/Royce in TNT colours, subbie. Another subbie for Express Freight had a tandem drive cab over Fiat with of all things, a Leyland engine and Albion gearbox. Sure you blokes could find a few more. I mentioned on here before about the R190 (or200) with the 6 cyl Cat engine in the float. Cheers, Dave

And shouldnt forget the Rhodes-Ridley that had great coverage on here not so long ago. How many Federals, Diamond T's, or those ex-warriors were fitted with differing powerants than the gas guzzling Contintals or Hall-Scotts?? When I was but a kid, bloke who was a house mover around Liverpool NSW, had a Federal which seemed to have an almost endless bonnet on it, ran around with I think a 6 banger Gardner engine in it, out of a searchlight plant or so I was led to believe.

Dave_64 wrote: . We have had Whites with R/R engines,

They were factory Fitted, Dave..

Sorry, no pictures cos I never took any . . . and sorry because it was a car, not a truck.

But, one unusual swap I performed, because I did. A 1956 Humber Hawk (FJ Holden shape), that killed two gearboxes before I fitted a later model overdrive box, which was fabulous until that also died! The body was in top condition, the interior was original and faultless, the engine was good, but what do you do when you have a car and no means of driving it?

Amongst my accumulated "spare" parts I had a 1957 Chev that was picked up after it had been T boned and left to rot behind a local garage. Can you believe I bought it for $30? The back axle went under my 1939 Oldsmobile, for a while (until I put that onto a '63 Pontiac chassis) along with the old manual three speed gearbox behind the 307 Chev engine. The remaining (good) trim was all sold for what I paid for the car, which left me with a bent shell, an engine, and a spare short extension housing 1958 Chev gearbox that had been in the boot.

The obvious happened, and the blue flame 235" six (which had to be revived first) and the gearbox from the boot went into the Hawk. Not easy putting a six where a four had been, but other than the bulkhead modifications it was a straightforward swap, simple, quiet, and with the standard 4.55:1 rear end running 15" x 7" Buick rims (same bolt pattern ) it was an absolute sleeper!! It was smooth when only using 2nd and 3rd gear, but simply ball tearing if 1st gear was used :evil: and I would use that when I came up at a set of lights with two people ready to race each other - regularly used to blow 'em off and shock the hell out of them. :lol:

To look at, it was innocent, but never registered legally :oops: and, if the bonnet was opened, it looked right, as though it was just a boring stock set up, complete with the big old Humber air cleaner.

So a strange swap, a truly enjoyable car all round, and one which I used to go looking for deep mud to see if it would ever get bogged (but never did, cos it simply clawed it's way through whatever I threw it at) - it deserves a mention here, and I have often regretted ever selling it. :S

KW with air cooled Deutz? Deutz with GM, both in line 6 and 8V71, KW with gas turbine, also done by Ford, Inter,Chev, Peterbilt. Wasnt aware that those late model Whites were optioned with R/R, had seen earlier models fitted with them as well as Leyland. Also UD's thrown in quite a few different brands. As a rule of thumb, Yank iron tended to use the local product, even Mack could have been ordered with just about any engine even going back to Scania-Vabis days. Pommy tended to use Pommy power mostly, Euro used Euro maybe the exception being factory fitted GM to Ipec's Tigers (MAN). Lots of variations limited only by blokes imaginations and authorities tolerances! Quite a few mods getting around in outback mining set ups using industrial engines, suppose they qualify as well. NR Mack was another war time marque that was often repowered.

I know of a cabover Man with a 903 and 15 RR

An R190 with an AEC that apparently was a great combination to drive

And an EH Ute with a Mazda 6cyl Diesel

Werkhorse,
The cabover MAN wasn't a bloke who used to subby for Teddy Phillips was he? Initials of K.D.?
A 90 with an AEC? Like that one!
Many ute's running around like that had a HZ one tonner myself with a Turbo Perkins 182.
Mate hade a factory fitted 2.2 Isuzu to an earlier Holden ute, maybe HK?
Falcon ute also available at one stage with factory fitted 4 banger Perkins, think maybe 4/203, pretty common engine.
Was leaning more to bigger vehicles and more unusual one offs, owner fitted.
BUT, whilst on subject, that bloke who filmed the "Australian Safari", NOT Alby Mengles, but about the same era, toured Oz with a diesel repowered Packard (or Pontiac, something like that, sloping back so around war era) quite successfully.
There was also the well known Gardner powered mid 30's Citroen, believe it's in some outback museum?
Damn, it's easy to get sidetracked these days!

Just on that Mack powered by the Scania-Vabis engine, was told many years ago that there was collusion between Mack in the States, the Lanova Co and Scania-Vabis (which was , again I was told this, was the R&D arm of Saab-Scania) which led to Mack heavily investing in diesel.
But there was also a single drive version of the steel cabin F model Mack, bought out here with a triplex box behind a smaller Scania engine, may have even been one of those DS8 engines, around 130-140HP from memory.
A local market gardener where I grew up had one on a bogie tipping trailer.
Always seemed to be parked in his yard with the shed up, more than it ever seemed to be working.

I know it's not a truck but it nearly qualifies. It was painted Mack Yellow.
Back in the late '60s a mate bought a very short wheelbase Series 1 Landrover with a blown engine, (not surprising). He proceeded to graft a side valve Ford V8 into it, which was quite successful. However, some time later when the rear main seal began to leak, he upgraded to a 272 OHV Henry. Then it got interesting. Because of the low gearing the V8 was reving it's head off, so move the diff back and insert a 28 Chev 4 gearbox in back to front, behind the transfer case. Top gear 1-1, 2nd gear overdrive and 1st gear, bloody stupid. All was fairly ok but with a tail shaft about 4" long, it wasn't long before he removed the Chev box and made up and fitted a longer shaft.
It was fitted with a full tilt front of bonnet and guards. Although it was capable of spinning all 4 wheels on take off, he never blew a diff, even more surprising.

I know in the 80’s Nissan UD put 903’s in there top of the range bangers because no one would buy a jap truck so they put them in to win over local people for a while , not sure what transmission but some one can fill in the blank